Republicans should have been more interested in Latino vote

Updated 8:03 pm, Saturday, November 10, 2012

The terra-cotta statue of a sleeping Mexican — the cynical piece of lawn art that sits in my neighbor's yard — has been smirking under his sombrero since Tuesday night.

Whenever the Latino monolith or shades of stereotypical symbols appear in the news, he speaks to me.

“Good morning. It's a new dia in America!” he said, his imagined voice dripping with sarcasm.

“So you've heard,” I mentally responded, “that the Latino vote is finally being taken seriously.”

He shrugged.

“You don't think the numbers who voted blue sent a message to the party that was left seeing red?” I asked, pointing to the post-election analysis of the sleeping giant who got up on the left side of the ideological map.

“What? Just because we've been ignored doesn't mean we we've been sleeping! We've been working on the American dream, struggling to fill in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, becoming the fastest growing demographic in the U.S.!

Like San Antonio's Latino Mayor Julián Castro told Latina CNN anchor Soledad O'Brien on Thursday morning, the issues that are important to us are the same ones that appeal to everyone else,” he said with a laugh, causing his molded sarape to shake.

I brought up the exit polls, but he quickly interrupted.

“You wanna know who the biggest loser in this election was?” he continued, raising his faux voice from beneath the big hat. It was “the conservative Latino voter who didn't want to be represented by Democrats, but who wouldn't be represented by Republicans.”

“Well, what exactly does the Republican Party have to do?” I asked, “A lot of Latinos are conservative, not just on the social stuff. They're scared of the fiscal cliff! We all have an opinion about immigration but for most of us, other issues that hit a lot closer to home. These folks don't want special treatment; they're all about assimilation. Why, then, did Latinos vote so overwhelmingly Democrat?”

“Well,” he sighed, “in a lot of cases it isn't the issue of immigration, but it is the tone set by the issue of immigration. Somewhere between protecting the borders and enforcing laws so Americans don't have to compete with illegal immigrants in classrooms or emergency rooms and the fear of immigrant cultures changing the fabric of America, the language, tone and a lot of assumptions have gotten more than a little bit insulting. And when party leaders refuse to show any real outrage at the most offensive stuff for fear of stirring the ranks on the far right, they let the bullies define the party. That sends the message that the Latino vote isn't as important as the votes from the fringes. What kind of representation is that?”

“So a lot of those who voted Democrat really aren't Democrats, they're just voting for the party who makes them feel least disrespected?” I asked.

“I have a dream,” he said, settling back into the hollow in the dirt under a big Live Oak, “that someday the GOP will give Latinos a strong presidential choice, because they'll learn the obvious: A little courtesy — or lack of it — goes a long way.”

Then he pointed out that there are kids who have learned to read who were born after Mitt Romney first started running for president.